I'm in central Pennsylvania, think it's zone 5-6. I want to plant some five or six week old seedlings for a fall crop. What date should I plant my seedlings in the garden? I'll be growing the purple variety of cauliflower.
Thank You............ Rich
I don't have any experience in your zone but if you want to harvest in fall you will be planting in summer, no? Will you then get constant attack by cabbage moth?
This is quite an interesting calendar. Much of the timetable information makes sense to me even though I don't have experience of Zone 5. The deal seems to be to grow nothing in winter, warm season veges in summer and cool season stuff in between. Seems fair. Looking at the calendars for other zones is also interesting, I would be in the zone9-10 region but the advice only lines up very roughly with practice in these parts.
The scope is rather narrow, that is there are many veges not mentioned and virtually no fruits. That is a matter of how much work one is prepared to put into something like this, if the author had to limit the time they gave it fair enough I suppose. There are a number of items to do with setting out a garden and first preparing soil that really have no place in an annual calendar. In this regard the author seems to have got the scope well and truly knotted up.
Some advise seems rather parochial, for example in one section you are advised to mulch with a particular kind of material (I think it was wheat straw). Why? What is the magical benefit of this? What if you don't have that kind of mulch? In another place you are advised to apply lime, sulphur and fertiliser according to soil analysis results. It doesn't mention what to do if you don't have soil analysis and there is no logical set of results that would have you apply lime and sulphur together. These kinds of off-hand misleading specificity (where no specification is required) can be very confusing to the novice.
Also some stuff seems just wrong in almost any context. You are advised to plant 1/10th of an acre (480 sq yards or 400 sq metres) per head of the family. Unless your soil is very poor or you are a useless grower this is a huge amount of veges even allowing for enough to freeze and can. By my figuring that is at least 10 times more than you need for low intensity growing and if you put in the effort you could reduce it by another factor of 2 or 3. Aside from not having 4/10th of an acre available that is much more than the average family with day jobs and school could effectively manage. Why on earth would you be setting people up to fail (or to refuse to even try) by making it seem like it must be done on a huge scale?
David
If your are in zone 10-9 looks like you can grow any thing during any time of the year. Just seems like it is ideal for a vinter.
Must be an ideal spot for weeds too! :)
Not anything at any time but it is more flexible than zone 5-6 where apparently nothing much grows in winter at all. We still have to grow the warm season crops in the warmer months but the growing season is quite long. For example I had green beans producing well for more than seven months. But I do get frost so this limits what you can grow during winter. Here you grow brassicas (such as cauliflower) from autumn through winter into spring because they tend to bolt in our hot summer and the cabbage moths tear them apart in summer unless you cage them or spray every week. Similarly growing lettuce during summer is almost impossible but it's good any other time of year.
There are vineyards in my street and in the next valley and they make a nice drop too.
David
You could have told them about hoop houses and cold frames, and that clever Billy that put plastic on the ground. I'm really disappointed.
Cauliflower are sensitive to hot weather. It is best to plant cauliflower during mid-summer for a fall harvest.
Where? Do you mean in zone 5-6 or anywhere?
David
Don't know why but my wallflowes keep green all winter and are supposed to be a two season plant. Their yellow flowers are the first to bloom, even before tulips, and their smell, like J&J bayby powder.
You can take care of those moths easiy by using a cloche.
Same here, a spring crop. Never tried in the fall. Have planted spinach in the late fall and had great success.
This wine growing country, next to rivers on slopes and in town.
The OP said he was in zone 10.
EVP MAN said zone 5-6 but ezylala hasn't made it clear which zone he/she is thinking of, which is rather the point of this thread.
David
I shred a small head of cauliflower in the cuisinart but a hand shredder works too. In a bowl with NO WATER. I zapped it on full in microwave for 6 minutes and the stuff comes out looking like rice. I put my pecan chicken in lemon cream sauce over the top. wowowo. great use for cauliflower in addition to the "mashed" cauliflower sub for potatoes. Ingrid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago
Garlic growing is easy in the home garden. you should Maintaining top quality requires care and attention. Weeding is important as garlic does not like competition. Watering and not watering, harvesting on time and curing properly are all important for producing bulbs with good keeping qualities. You can plant garlic in single or double rows or in intensive beds with four to six plants across with four to eight inches between plants. Garlic is one of the easiest and most satisfying crops you can grow.
I'll have to skip the pecans on the chicken Thanks for the idea
CHomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.